In his latest collection of poetry, Kevin Latimer grapples with grief, faith and the loss of his father.
The title, “SOUP,” is a nod to his father’s love of soup and how Latimer said he sees the poems and plays he writes mixing together, like a pot of soup.
In his book, the Kent-based poet weaved together his father’s experiences as a Black veteran returning from World War II to Jim Crow discrimination with his own experiences as a queer man dealing with a father of a different generation.
“This work, it was really focused on the cycle of grief,” Latimer said. “It seems to cycle back on itself and collapse on itself.”
That included how grief can return from an unexpected trigger, such as a scene in a TV show, he said.
grandma always said, grinding your teeth is like inviting a tsunami; like that time i came out to my dad & the Days Of Our Lives commercial blaring in the background & the silence on the phone & the silence on the phone & the void of the dial tone & the plum tree wilting outside my window & the sinew of God’s lips still fresh on my tastebuds & the doe in my backyard giving a bath to her young & the sparrow swooping down to end his fast & the sunrise splayed lilac, crested orange, red seeping into a wet green & whatever is ahead of us is ahead of my body & so it will stay here.- An excerpt from Kevin Latimer's poem DOE PROBLEMS
It's not the first time poetry has helped Latimer express his grief. He wrote his first poetry book, “ZOETROPE,” after his mother died, and he said poetry allowed him to tap into feelings about the past and the present.
“It just feels like the only way I know how to express things in language that are inexpressible in any other medium,” he said.
While he admittedly wasn’t into writing or books until college, he connected with poetry while a student at Cleveland State University.
“My soul feels right by it, by pursuing writing,” he said.
In addition to pursuing his own work, Latimer helps other writers publish their work through GRIEVELAND, which he started with Brendan Joyce. The indie press aims to publish a few books each year. While he said it’s more a labor of love than a business, the effort gives early and mid-career writers a venue to sharing their writing.
“[Writing] helped save my life,” he said. “It's worth all of the headaches and struggles and everything else, plus more.”